Thanks Ryujin, that's exactly what I'd wish to achieve with Rigel's redesign. Change the whole thing while retaining its good old beastly flavor. I thought I'd fail after redesigning that waist to make it look a bit more mass-producible.

And well, predatory is a pretty good word for a bad guy mech.

_________________

Theoden wrote:

Spears shall be shaken, shields be splintered! A sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!

It's more than three days already so I think I have to post this one now:AW-1A1 Rigel, now in not-so-lovely drab colors.

Can somebody suggest for specific functions for mechs of this type (aside from recon of course)? I'm gearing up to draw AW-2, which is basically a modified Rigel. I've been thinking of a sniper or heavy weapons function for it, but I still need better concepts than those; the heavy weapons idea particularly, does not seem to suit the basic frame. Thanks in advance.

_________________

Theoden wrote:

Spears shall be shaken, shields be splintered! A sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!

Just about any function can lend itself to a mech. The Rigel can have a heavy weapons variant as mostly heavy weapon versions just give bigger weapons (perhaps a 110mm or 120mm assault cannon instead of the 100mm?), armor added to sensitive spots (like the chest would be a good spot for the Rigel as the reactor is in the front of it) and possibly thrusters if the armor and guns add that much weight.

Generally variations go as follows

grunt unit- jack of all trades, well rounded and not particularly good at anything.

long range- artillery/sniper, long range cannons or large missile boxes for long range attacks. sniper units tend to hit from long distances and rely on not being detected to wreak havoc on the enemy troops.

anti-air- often equipped with flak cannons or SAM missiles or both.

Close Combat- melee weapons, heat piles, slug guns, generally a fast unit that gets up close and personal.

Many thanks for the suggestions SolidSpidr. That's quite a lot of options, so I think I have to choose now.

So you've mentioned anti-air and recon. Actually, I've already conceptualized an armored hoverbike/hovertank capable of both functions, which is why I've made it a recon unit unnecessary. That leads me to choose from long range, close combat, heavy weapons, high mobility and commander types. Personally, I think the Rigel can accommodate these functions with no more than a change of equipment, but then I need a new unit dedicated to at least one of these. I like your idea of a heavy weapons unit (which is not really multiple BFGs and very heavy armor as I've previously thought of), so that'd be my tentative choice.

_________________

Theoden wrote:

Spears shall be shaken, shields be splintered! A sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!

Well, now here's my first update for 2K10. A school project I fortunately submitted on time, despite the fact that I barely have three days to work on it. So here it is:http://xperimental00.deviantart.com/art/FAIL-149763521I did this in Flash 8 and Flash CS3, animation, effects and all. The animation is composed of 295 frames at 24 frames per second. I wish I could've done better though, adding in a jump or something. In case you're wondering, here's the original character.

That's all for now folks. Feel free to flame.

_________________

Theoden wrote:

Spears shall be shaken, shields be splintered! A sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!

That much? Wow, thanks . Well I happened to choose animating a mech because it won't be needing the extra movement of human/animal characters (twitching cloth, windblown hair, etc.) . That and being relevant to my interest.

_________________

Theoden wrote:

Spears shall be shaken, shields be splintered! A sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!

Joined: Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:38 amPosts: 512Location: In the Zaku's cockpit. Yes, the one that just exploded.

you for the great justice of mecha fanatics every where. one thing to point out to make my previous comment all the more silly is I'm male yet its a fan girl squeal. why? because there are some things guys just can't do as well. on a side note, it's ZOINKS coooooold down here in south LA

Poor thread, left to dust for God knows how long. How about reviving this thing with a few new posts?

First off, SF-30 Eltanin, my first serious aircraft design. Inspired by CNC3's Firehawk, Eurofighter Typhoon and Fangs from Gundam 00. So yes it's not really that original .

Next is AW-4 Saiph, probably the next to the last rehash of the good old Rigel. You may blame whatever you can nitpick to its very messy pencil sketch.

I think I remember promising this one here. That's a composition of five pencil sketches actually. I'll be doing their inks and colors in digital . Here's the first of them actually. I really need your constructive criticisms on that one guys.

That's it. I guess I'll be making another post like this in the next few months or less.

_________________

Theoden wrote:

Spears shall be shaken, shields be splintered! A sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!

Guess what good sirs and madames, I'm done with this. That's a few days of hard work with long intervals. It's pretty painstaking though, that being my first fully digital work but I really did enjoy the whole process. I think I'll be keeping up with this style solely on the concept art though. I believe there's still plenty of room for improvement here and I'd be really glad if you guys point it out for me.

_________________

Theoden wrote:

Spears shall be shaken, shields be splintered! A sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!

Heh, got a little messy with this commish. KamikazeIt's basically a close combat mech with energy-amplified melee attacks, like Goddannar and the Big O according to ~megasxlrfan. You know, punches, kicks stuff, with a few mid- to close-range attacks.

Sorry for the rather short post, school's calling me already.

_________________

Theoden wrote:

Spears shall be shaken, shields be splintered! A sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!